By John Ellis KordesVillage Historian

St. Paul’s Tunnels

Q: I had heard about tunnels connecting St. Paul’s to St. Mary’s. Is that true, and if so, could you tell me why?

Anyone who ever attended St. Paul’s has heard the story of the “tunnels.” But what were they and could you actually go through them to St. Mary’s? Well, folklore is one thing and it makes for good story telling, but the facts are the facts.

When St. Paul’s was completed in 1883 and St. Mary’s in 1892, they were heated by fireplaces. They were part of an elaborate memorial to A.T. Stewart by his wife, Cornelia which included the Cathedral of the Incarnation (1885) and the Bishop’s Mansion (1880). By 1900, the Cathedral had built a large heating plant just south of the railroad trestle on Cherry Valley Avenue on the west side of the street (today there is a LIPA electrical sub-station there). This plant included a large building with a tall smoke stack and a railroad spur so trains could deposit the coal that was needed. This plant had underground pipes that led to St. Mary’s, St. Paul’s and the Cathedral in order to heat them. This system lasted until the late 1940’s when oil burners were installed in the individual buildings and the power plant was torn down. The underground pipes were sealed off and still exist underground. These were not tunnels and were not large enough in which a person could travel. However, the pipes or “tunnels” as they were known made for good story telling for decades.